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Friday, May 16, 2014

WRIC TV 8's web site had this story about how fashion designers are taking notice of the increasing number of women who own firearms for self-defense and are designing clothing to allow them to carry their firearms.

No matter where you stand on state gun laws, there does appear to be a market for women looking to tote their guns around. Karen Bartuch, a former Chicago police officer and president of the Women's Tactical Association in Illinois translated her love of guns into her own company, AlphaGirls, which sells jewelry and hair accessories that double as self-defense weapons and also offers gun-training classes. "We are girly girls who like fashion, but we like guns too," Bartuch told the Chicago Tribune.

Bartuch was also interviewed on NRANews' Cam and Company yesterday.

Bartuch is not the only designer incorporating women gun owners' needs into their business:

Another designer, Sarah Church, presented an entire collection of gun-hiding garments at the Firearms & Fashion Show. One hooded dress with a zipper down the front (pictured above) allows for quick and easy access to a gun holster beneath the garment. "This is a dress you could wear anywhere, anytime. You can use high heels to dress it up or boots to dress it down," Church said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "And when you're carrying a gun underneath, no one will know it." The dress retails online for $165.

With stories like these, it becomes even harder for the gun ban lobby to paint gun owners as not mainstream.